Thanks Susan, this article made my day. I belong to a University dojo and have long ago come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a serious 19 year old martial artist. When you have trained 20+ years and can still step onto the mat with a smile, then I would consider you a serious martial artist. Until then, please spare me the stories of your "months" of dedicated training at some super secret shaolin temple.

My sensei makes a good point, that I couldn't really figure out how to get into the story and doesn't really belong anyway: the difficult people, the ones most on our nerves, are the ones we should welcome because they're the ones who most need aikido. My sensei would have handled this guy more brusquely but also better than I did.
Susan